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Lyudmila Vergerin
Lyudmila Vergerin (353 - 399) was a leading figure in the Valat Revolution of 389 - 393. She was integral in combining the scattered movements of the 380s into a coherent front, but after she was denied leadership of the new Valat state, she continued trying to foment rebellion. Youth Little is known about Lyudmila's early life, as she was from a relatively insignificant landed family and thus had minimal writing about her life. Tax records show she was born in the small town of Guba, outside Gelgrast, but in 361 Lyudmila moved with her parents and older sister to Stagrang. Although Lyudmila's older sister, Jasna, at some point got married to Dobroslav Gezenhan, a wealthy mine owner, Lyudmila herself stayed unwedded. Leadup to revolution In the 380s, Lyudmila became involved with several small pro-independence movements in Stagrang, most of which were inspired by the recent cession of Cadra by the Daravian empire. Meeting minutes from one group, Slojod Uldova (Free People's Union), show that by the summer of 387 Lyudmila had brought together at least four discrete groups under the SU label, and was a leader and coordinator of the greater SU. At around this time, Lyudmila is also known to have traveled to Gelgrast and set up a parallel system there that would cooperate with the SU. The egalitarian ideologies inherent in Slojod Uldova meant that Lyudmila was able to be very successful in governing the movement despite prejudices against her gender, and so feminist causes became a key point in Lyudmila's personal agenda. Valat Revolution In Metigrans 389, shortly after the accession of Talbot IV of Dorio, Lyudmila dispatched a messenger to Gelgrast to order the local SU branch to seize the city; the following day, Lyudmila and other Slojod Uldova leaders stormed Zarzada, the chief administrative building in Stagrang. Through Dobroslav Gezenhan, her brother-in-law, the SU had managed to secure significant quantities of plumbarches, and through strategic use of the firearms, the SU held the Zarzada in the face of repeated Dorian offensives. After several days of holding the Zarzada, Lyudmila led contingents of SU forces to expand outward, and as unaffiliated riots in poorer Stagrang neighborhoods were keeping the Dorian forces occupied, the SU were able to effectively control Stagrang early in the rebellion. Through gradual expansion, Lyudmila was able to outmaneuver the Dorian forces and keep any large force from entering the city after only several months of warfare. This proved advantageous in the ensuing winter, as cold temperatures beset the Dorian camps and drained morale. After the belligerent, newly elected Lord Reverend Leopold Otrolius sent the Monastery of Arms into the war, Lyudmila was quick to denounce Dorio and the Heplian church for bringing religion into the issue without proper cause. As Cadral and Robarial soldiers began arriving to aid their fellow Vazranists, Lyudmila was taken from the front lines to become in charge of the new soldiers. This job entailed supplying, training, and deploying the troops, so while it was technically a demotion, Lyudmila had no complaints about the job. In 393, Talbot IV reluctantly called a meeting to negotiate terms. Lyudmila and Gelgrasti leader Danimir Nyitkin were summoned to Alandis, but they refused to meet in the homeland of Otrolius, and instead demanded that Talbot meet in Stagrang. Talbot relented, and the three met in the Zarzada, a show of triumph by the Valat leaders. Although Lyudmila was not known to be involved with the mob that murdered Talbot and his family, she publicly praised the rioters later that month. Zavyarist revolution The leaders of Slojod Uldova met in the fall of 393 to appoint a king of Valatsa, and while Lyudmila was highly respected, the council instead voted heavily in the favor of her nephew, Vazrana. The main reason was due to the wealth of the Gezenhan family, although gender likely played some factor, and Lyudmila held firm to the belief that her sex was the principal cause of her snub. As a consolation, Lyudmila was appointed Strategic Advisor by Vazrana XVI, a position that was essentially a second-in-command to Danimir Nyitkin, who had been appointed General of the Armies. She tried to cooperate under this system, but took even her appointment as Strategic Advisor as an insult, and so in 397 Lyudmila decided to stir a pro-parliament revolt. Lyudmila's denunciations of her nephew were met with mixed results; while many of the commoners were in favor of a parliament, many more saw Lyudmila as ungrateful, or were simply tired of war. In around a year, Lyudmila did manage to garner enough support to depose Vazrana and install the pro-parliament King Castimir I; however, Castimir did not trust Lyudmila after seeing her revolt against her nephew, and so he had her imprisoned for "violence against the Valat throne." That winter, Lyudmila was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment, and in 399 she committed suicide in prison. Category:Valats Category:Military Leaders Category:Insurgents